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Courts: Our Shared Dreams
A Place to Belong Courts are groups that were formed by Changelings in ages past to provide protection, respite, and a place of safety and trust; they may be considered almost bastions against the horrors the Lost must now endure. The power of a Court waxes and wanes, and in many freeholds, seasonal courts share power between each changing weal of the year. Most changelings join a Court, as all Courts are aligned in some way with things that confound and confuse the Fae and therefore offer protection from them; those few Courtless are often regarded with suspicion and mistrust. Delineated below are the courts one of the Lost might join, as well as where they may be found in the books. The Directional Courts are not common as the Seasonal Courts; however, in places like Japan, Asia, India, Korea, Thailand and the like, these Courts hold sway. While they are not common in Ireland as the Seasonal Courts are, they nonetheless still carry adherents. The Armor Court, The Stupa, The Court of Constants. The Court of the North knows suffering on an intimate level. Through suffering, they learn detachment, and through detachment they conquer fear. If one injures oneself, they reason, no other can take that away. In this way do the ascetics of the North Court cope with what they have experienced. *'Book/Page Found:' : - Winter Masques: 122. *'Emotion:' : - Suffering. *'Mantle:' : - Stark. *'Court Contracts:' : - The Four Directions. The Serpent Court, The Trident, The Court of Wealth. The Eastern Court knows wealth and gluttony in all its myriad forms. They are greedy and exist to acquire more treasures from the very world from whence they were stolen. They covet, and by virtue of their covetous natures stand to obtain yet more and more from this easily fooled world. *'Book/Page Found:' : - Winter Masques: 125. *'Emotion:' : - Envy. *'Mantle:' : - Wealth. *'Court Contracts:' : - The Four Directions. The Vermillion Court, The Ink Brush, The Court of Song. The Southern Court lives and breath chaos and the passion of rebirth. They wish to experience the world and all the emotion it has to offer to the keenest, most fullest extent: from the most wild of unbound joy to the lowest of crippling sorrow. This Court is Art incarnate, and they all of them to a one exult in their new natures. *'Book/Page Found:' : - Winter Masques: 128. *'Emotion:' : - Ecstasy. *'Mantle:' : - Chaos. *'Court Contracts:' : - The Four Directions. The White Tiger Court, The Sword, The Court of War. Those of the Western Court see themselves as the virtuous, honorable guardians of the Freehold. The world is eternally at war, and these Lost constantly hone their bodies, improving their martial prowess for whenever they are required to put their considerable talents to use. *'Book/Page Found:' : - Winter Masques: 131. *'Emotion:' : - Honor. *'Mantle:' : - Ferocity. *'Court Contracts:' : - The Four Directions. These mysterious courts are rare, at best. They share power as day fades to night, as night flames into day. The duality and chaos of these Courts is not lost on the Courtiers that follow the groups within; it is considered necessary. Court of the Day, The Found Path, The White Hill. The Courtiers of the Sun hold themselves to impossible standards, becoming incorrigible forces of light and morality in a dark and sinful world. Some may be fanatical; some may resort to cruel methods to create 'goodness' in the world, feeling that the ends justify the means. After all, they are still better than the people they harm if they use their very same tactics. They're using them for a GOOD reason. That makes it proper and good....right? *'Book/Page Found:' : - Winter Masques: 137. *'Emotion:' : - Shame. *'Mantle:' : - Light. *'Court Contracts:' : - N/A. Court of the Night, The Wayward Road, The Black Rock. Unabashed in their freedom and amorality, those of the Moon Court feel that they are monsters and instead of recoiling from themselves in fear, they exult in this fact, celebrating their monstrosity. There is no such thing as 'limitations' for one of the Lost in the Moon Court. They do as they please when they please and Devil take any who would hinder their tramping and howling through the shadows. *'Book/Page Found:' : - Winter Masques: 140. *'Emotion:' : - Disgust. *'Mantle:' : - Darkness. *'Court Contracts:' : - N/A. The Glacial Axe, The Umbral Court, The Court of Dooms. The world is going to end. Maybe not now, maybe not tomorrow, but eventually it will end, and there is nothing anybody can do to prevent that; why not spend what time is left drinking and making merry, enjoying life to the fullest while it is still there to enjoy and fighting to prolong the time before the inevitable rises up and devours us all? This, in all of its fatalistic glory, is the Dusk Court incarnate. *'Book/Page Found:' : - Dancers in the Dusk: 136. *'Emotion:' : - Fatalism. *'Mantle:' : - Determination. *'Court Contracts:' : - Entropy. The Bloody Rose, The Auroral Court, The Court of Salvation. The world may end, but there are those with the power to stop that from happening. A rotten judiciary system must be overthrown, replaced by those new, fresh, and uncorrupted. Old contracts must be renewed, improved, fixed. The freehold must be protected, even if one's own life must be lain low in the process. Through the will to power and the desire and strength to enact change, the Dawn Court hopes to save the world. *'Book/Page Found:' : - Swords at Dawn: 133. *'Emotion:' : - Hope. *'Mantle:' : - Change. *'Court Contracts:' : - Potential. The Seasonal Courts are most common (and some might say even ubiquitous)in North America and Europe. With the ties they hold to something so very terrestrial and anchored in reality as the changing of the seasons, these Courts defend themselves by wrapping themselves up in concepts that the Gentry are unable to fully comprehend. The Antler Crown, The Emerald Court, The Court of Desire. Those children of the Spring Court refuse to allow themselves to be tied inextricably to the sorrowful horrors suffered during their Durance. Instead, they choose to exult in life, to follow their desires and passions and transcend the pain they have known. *'Book/Page Found:' : - Changeling the Lost: 46. *'Emotion:' : - Desire. *'Mantle:' : - Growth. *'Court Contracts:' : - Fleeting Spring. : - Eternal Spring. : - Verdant Summer. The Iron Spear, The Crimson Court, The Court of Wrath. The Summer Court embodies wrath and rage. Rage against their former Keepers, passion to ensure that they nor any other are again taken back to Arcadia to suffer as they have suffered. Those of the summer court -burn-, and they burn powerfully. However, they are always in danger of spluttering out completely. *'Book/Page Found:' : - Changeling the Lost: 50. *'Emotion:' : - Wrath. *'Mantle:' : - Strength. *'Court Contracts:' : - Fleeting Summer. : - Eternal Summer. : - Punishing Summer. The Leaden Mirror, The Ashen Court, The Court of Fear. The Lost who join the Autumn Court understand that they have been utterly, completely warped from what they were to what they now are. However, they also understand that those who ruined their lives also handed to them the instruments of their own undoing. *'Book/Page Found:' : - Changeling the Lost: 54. *'Emotion:' : - Fear. *'Mantle:' : - Sorcery. *'Court Contracts:' : - Fleeting Autumn. : - Eternal Autumn. : - Spellbound-Autumn. The Silent Arrow, The Onyx Court, The Court of Sorrow. The Winter Court fades. It slinks itself into the background, hiding from the world and the Gentry alike that it may not be found and abused again. They speak in code, remain subtle and unseen, playing when the danger has passed and moving on when the danger surges, as intangible and silent as a dying sigh upon the frosted winds. *'Book/Page Found:' : - Changeling the Lost: 58. *'Emotion:' : - Sorrow. *'Mantle:' : - Absence. *'Court Contracts:' : - Fleeting Winter. : - Eternal Winter. : - Sorrow-Frozen Heart. All game information is owned by White Wolf; it is merely reprinted here for ease of use.